After months of planning and preparing for the first Boston Marathon since the bombings last year, Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary stood before close to 100 officers on the morning of marathon day and gave one last speech before the big event.

“When you’re dealing with terrorism, they don’t just hit once and walk away,” said O’Leary to the assembled crowd of officers — some in uniform, some in plainclothes — just moments after roll call at 8:15 a.m.

O’Leary said terrorism could strike again, especially in areas that are deemed vulnerable.

“We want to make sure we’re not one of those places that’s viewed as vulnerable,” he said.

Shadowing the police

For Marathon Monday, the Brookline Police Department granted the TAB access to their command post at the intersection of Beacon and Marion streets, and let me follow Lt. Philip Harrington, who serves as the department’s public information officer.

For the marathon, Harrington’s duties included dealing with the media, as well as walking the route as a patrolman.

After roll call, and before Beacon Street was completely closed down, I got in Harrington’s car and we drove down to the site on Beacon Street designated for the media. He wanted to see how many news trucks had arrived.

While trying to get back to the other side of Beacon Street, Harrington encountered a lot of the same closures hapless residents ran into. After some “tactical maneuvering,” Harrington got us back to the other side of Beacon Street, and we headed for the command post near the intersection with Marion Street.

Practically the entire Brookline police force was involved with marathon security, with the exception of eight officers who were running in the race, and about seven officers who were on vacation.

In all, roughly 90 officers worked security at the course, many of whom were in plainclothes. In recent years, the number of Brookline officers at the race was around 50.

Department of Public Works Commissioner Andrew Pappastergion was at the command post. He had about 32 workers dedicated to the marathon throughout the day. They spent the early morning hours removing 15 bikes from the route, as well as removing 35 trash barrels along Beacon Street. Because of the nature of the bombs last year, trash barrels were seen as especially susceptible, and towns and cities were asked to either lock the barrels up or remove them. Brookline elected to remove them, and temporary clear-bag receptacles were installed.

Suspicious behavior

Throughout the day, Harrington took photos to post on Twitter under the Brookline Police handle (@BrooklineMAPD), with the help of intern Emma Jaffe, who walked alongside him all day. Harrington was also constantly listening to radio chatter through his earpiece for any reports of suspicious behavior.

Page 2 of 5 - One such report came in around 11 a.m., and Harrington happened to be close by.

The report was of a man with long frizzy hair, who was spotted by police because he was repeatedly laughing to himself. The man had actually walked right by us earlier, and I saw him laughing to himself and grabbing his hair.

After spotting the man walking toward Washington Square, Harrington followed behind him, and in front of us was a plainclothes officer who was tracking the man as well.

Harrington got to the man first and started asking questions as they both walked along the route.

“What’s so funny?” asked Harrington.

“You ever hear a really good joke you can’t get out of your head?” answered the man.

“Sure. You want to share the joke with me?” asked Harrington, but no answer came.

He eventually turned on Tappan Street, at which point the undercover policeman and Harrington ran after him and stopped him.

The undercover officer, who did not want to be identified for the story, said to the man, “You must realize it’s odd that you’re having hysterical fits walking up and down the street.”

The man said he had stayed up all night and lives on Commonwealth Avenue. He asked, “Did I do anything illegal?”

After police frisked him and searched his bag, he was let go.

Walking the course

Harrington has run the Boston Marathon four times. The most recent was four years ago. His personal best time is three hours, 58 minutes.

In previous years as a Brookline officer, Harrington has acted as a patrolman between Cleveland Circle and Washington Square.

On Monday, he was all over the course, glad-handing with acquaintances, joking with marathon revelers, and checking up on any unattended bags or strange behavior. Harrington routinely spotted bags along the route and asked nearby spectators if the bags belonged to them. Each time, someone claimed it.

Police received a couple of other calls of similar suspicious behavior and suspicious packages along the route, but each time, nothing was found.

In previous years, police have focused their efforts on getting residents off their roofs and quieting unruly crowds, but that was less of a problem this year, said O’Leary.

Other encounters along the route:

· One elderly woman stopped Harrington to complain that a man with a baby stroller hit her leg while trying to pass by her, and according to her, said, “You don’t know how to walk.” Harrington told her to be careful as she walks around the congested area.

Page 3 of 5 - · In another instance, Harrington heard over the police radio that someone was walking with a propane tank along Beacon Street, headed in his direction. We stumbled upon the tank in front of a Beacon Street home, where the resident was hosting a party and was going to use the tank to cook food. Harrington told her to keep it away from the route.

· After hearing a report of an unruly crowd around the St. Mary’s section of the race, we walked over to the spot. Once we arrived, all we saw was seemed like an increased police presence, but little in the way of unruly behavior.

At one point, we walked into a large courtyard in front of 1187 Beacon St., where a number of college-aged people were drinking outside and playing party games. On any other day, they would have been told to stop. The partiers in the courtyard paused as Harrington made his way toward them, seemingly expecting a reprimand or warning, but none came. Harrington just looped around the courtyard, greeted the people, and kept walking.

One spectator even asked Harrington if he would attempt a beer pong shot, but Harrington declined.

‘Where can I cross?’

Along the route, the most common question Harrington received was where residents could cross the road, but because of the heavy field of runners this year, the police closed down crossing areas from late morning to about 4 p.m.

With about 10,000 runners added to the usual field of 25,000, Brookline Police knew crossing would be near impossible.

But that didn’t stop people from complaining, and many took to social media to air their grievances.

O’Leary stands by the decision.

“The runners have to take priority,” he said. “I know people have a hard time understanding that, but you can’t let people…cut the runners off when they’re running.”

One major difference in Brookline this year was the use of steel barricades to mark the boundaries of the race route instead of the rope that had been used in previous years. The rope was commonly taken advantage of, as people ran from side to side.

O’Leary and Harrington seemed happy to see the ropes gone for the marathon on Monday. Harrington said it made his job a lot easier to not have to worry about people jumping the rope or ducking underneath it.

“Honor”

Capt. Michael Gropman was the incident commander for the marathon, essentially leading the effort from the Brookline Police side.

During the morning roll call, he told the officers that “honor” was the word of the day for plainclothes officers to identify themselves to the uniformed ones.

Page 4 of 5 - After the brief roll call, each officer grabbed a baggie that contained a Nature Valley granola bar, hard candy and sunscreen, and headed to their stations.

About 70 National Guard soldiers assembled at the police station before heading out to the course.

O’Leary said the police force was prepared for the worst.

“We had what we thought was a really solid plan if something happened,” he said.

He said the idea to have a number of plainclothes police along the route was done intentionally to not give the impression of a major police presence, and risk turning off spectators.

“Nobody wanted to give the impression that it was a police zone,” said O’Leary.

With many more officers on the route, the cost for marathon day this year is expected to jump considerably in the police’s budget, but O’Leary didn’t have the final figures yet. He said the Boston Athletic Association, the race organizer, agreed to pitch in more than usual for the race this year. In previous years, he said the Police Department has spent about $11,000 on marathon security, and has gotten close to $4,000 from the BAA.

The contribution from the BAA this year is expected to be between $6,000 and $7,000.

Team Brookline

Eventually, we arrived at Star Market on Beacon Street, where Nancy Vineberg, vice president for development for the Brookline Community Mental Health Center, was standing at the Team Brookline “cheer station.”

“We’re psyched,” she said, awaiting the first runners to reach Brookline.

Team Brookline had 42 runners this year, and all but one of them competed in the race. The team is comprised of four nonprofits in town and seeks to raise money for all four, including the Brookline Community Mental Health Center.

“I think people are feeling that everything is in place to have a great day,” she said.

Jaison Williams, one runner on the team, was expected to reach Brookline around 12:30 p.m., and would be the first member of the team to reach the cheer station. Williams ended up finishing with a time of three hours, 21 minutes.

Enjoying the day

Washington Square was bustling during the marathon, even before the first runners arrived.

When Harrington arrived at the square, he was greeted by Gerry Finnegan, owner of Washington Square Tavern, who was offering hot dogs and sausages outside of his restaurant.

Nearby, a band was setting up to play.

Finnegan was beaming with energy and ready to move past the traumatic events of last year, when he remembers Washington Square turning into a ghost town as officers told spectators to leave after bombs went off at the finish line, killing three and injuring hundreds.

Page 5 of 5 - A Brookline native and police veteran, Harrington has seen many marathons come and go, but this year was different.

Walking with him, what stood out amid all the increased security and concerns about a follow-up attack was just how much Harrington seemed to love the day, even as he remained vigilant.

Taking a few steps and surveying the frenzied crowds, he smiled and said, “As a patrolman, I really enjoy it.”